


Luz Noceda and the Olympians - The Magic Thief

by BrightIdea



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26445673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightIdea/pseuds/BrightIdea
Summary: When Luz gets on the bus to Reality Check Summer Camp she expects she will be spending her summer learning to be normal.The bus however is not going to the camp she expected. Drawn into the world of Gods and Monsters she must learn about herself and her new friends as war between the gods threatens to break out.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 50
Kudos: 158





	1. Luz Goes To (The Wrong) Summer Camp

Luz had envisioned the day would unfold differently then it had so far. Being chased through the woods by a giant throwing trees at her had not been part of it at all. 

Though she had dreaded it she had woken up and packed her things to spend the entire summer at the “Reality Check Summer Camp” where she would learn to “get in touch with reality” and “appreciate public radio” as her mami had put it. Sure, she knew her fantasies and fiery plunge into the Good Witch Azura fandom could be a little much at times but that was who she was. 

A weirdo. 

Still, she knew why her mami wanted this because she was worried about Luz. As a second-generation Dominican immigrant Luz’ mom had been isolated growing up. It had not been until her mom had gone to medical school that she had opened up, made friends, and met Luz’ father -Alberto. Luz had never met her father, their relationship had not worked out, they had separated and he had died before Luz had turned one year old. Luz only had the vaguest of memories of warmth on her face. 

Her mom liked to tell her that she was the only light in her life - that's why she had been named Luz. 

To get back on track, Luz had decided she would go to the camp for her mother. She had even thrown away her copy of the Good Witch Azura book one...but no sooner had her mother left for work Luz had convinced herself that she would need something to do on the trip to the camp and had fished the book out of the trash. All she really knew about the camp was that it was somewhere in Upstate New York, as far as she knew, that was hours of driving and she might as well spend the time reading. That was normal? Right?

No sooner had she put the book in her backpack a school bus painted grey had pulled up in front of her house. In the plain black letters in arial font the words “Think Inside The Box” were decaled on the side. Through the glass windows she saw only empty seats. Her first thought was “Ghost Bus” which was quashed almost immediately when the door opened and she saw the bus did have a driver. 

He had to be the buffest, the hairiest, and most coachiest looking middle-aged man Luz had ever seen. He wore an orange polo shirt, baggy sweatpants, a baseball cap that did not cover his mass of brown curls and even a baseball whistle hung around his neck. He was also so little, probably no more than 5” nothing in height - if the rest of him was part of some napoleon complex she would not have been surprised. Strapped into the space above his head was a wooden baseball bat and in his free hand that was not on the steering wheel was a megaphone.

“HEY KID. YOU LUZ NO-CHEDDA?” he had shouted through the megaphone and had made Luz cover both of her ears with her hands.

“Wah!” Luz exclaimed and fell back on her butt. After the ringing in her ears subsided she shouted back, “It's Luz NOCEDA actually.”

“Sorry, cupcake. I’ll get it right next time,” the bus driver picked up a clipboard and seemed to scratch out something vigorously before writing something over it - from the way he moved his lips slow as he wrote she guessed he was writing in the correct pronunciation of her name. Once he was done writing he placed the clipboard back down and pointed a thumb toward the rear of the bus, “Alright, kid, you can call me Coach Hedge now - get in! I don’t wait for anyone and I’m already behind schedule! Well? What are you sitting there for! Move! Move! Move!”

“YAH! Alright, alright!” Luz had cried and jumped up off the ground and onto the bus. She plopped down onto a seat toward the middle of the bus but not far from Coach Hedge who continued to glare at her until she sat down. 

“Alright, campers. I’ll reiterate the rules of the bus for the new rookie here!” Hedge cleared his throat before he continued, “Rule number one: Don’t bother me while I’m driving. Rule number two: If you do bother me while I’m driving I’ll send you to camp the hard and short way.”

By the way he had then placed one of his hands on the baseball bat above his head Luz did not need to guess what he meant by his second statement. Luz imagined Hedge hitting her head clear from her shoulders and it landing exactly outside of camp.

“Guh. Having to spend the entire summer without a body would be horrible.” Luz shivered and muttered to herself.

“What was that, Noceda?” Hedge had growled and to her surprise had pulled off the accent of her name perfectly. 

“Nothing, sir! I mean, coach! My head is in the game!” Luz forced a smile, she had held it until he had snorted and turned back to the steering wheel.

“Whatever. Now all of you get to know each other, do an ice breaker or something. I don’t care.” Hedge rumbled before he started to drive the bus away from Luz’ house. His words had confused Luz, what did he mean ‘all of you’? Luz looked, left and right, back and forth but there was no one else that she saw on the bus. Her theory of a ghost bus had crept back slowly before she was interrupted by a timid voice. 

“H-hello?” a small boy with bushy black hair poked his head above the seat directly behind Luz.

“Ya-I mean, h-hello to you too! Yes, that's what I was saying,” Luz had flinched back but saved herself at the last minute. She told herself to play it cool. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the boy smiled weakly before he glanced up in Hedge’s direction, “I was doing my best to not get creamed into a pile of Augustus gloop. I may or may-not be the reason for Hedge’s rules for while he is driving.”

“Oh, is your name Augustus?” Luz had asked, eager to turn the topic away from Hedge’s baseball bat. 

“Yep! That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” Augustus deflated a little, “Most people do. They just end up calling me Auggy.”

“Ooofa.” Luz shuddered in sympathy, that was a terrible nickname. She thought for a moment before an idea flashed in her head, “How about, I call you Gus instead? Does that sound better?”

“Gus?” Augustus/Auggy raised an eyebrow. She could practically see the gears as they turned in his mind as he thought it over. After a few moments he continued, enthusiasm soared skyward the more he spoke, “Gus. Hey Gus. Looking sharp, Gus. Gus Porter. Gusgusgusgusgus!”

“Do you like it?” Luz asked.

“Do I like it? I love it!” Gus beamed before he thrust both arms into the air, “Look out world, there is a new Gus in town!” 

Hedge had made a very loud rumbling noise, Luz looked back to see he was glaring at them both through the rearview mirror.

“Eeep.” Gus dived back behind his seat, his words were timid again when they wafted up from behind her seat, “So, your name is Luz? I heard it earlier…”

The next few hours seemed to flyby as Luz and Gus talked back and forth to one another. Gus was from a small town called Bonesborough and seemed to be very enthusiastic in his personality - at least when Hedge was not looking their way. He was the President of his school’s Historical Appreciation Society and was pretty smart, he loved history and especially myths and legends. His parents had also made him go to the camp because of his interests - namely because they had found out about his detailed summer plan to hunt down and film the Jersey Devil by himself even though he was only twelve. 

He had even read the Good Witch Azura books though his interest was more to do with the portrayal of the monsters in the book. Still, Luz felt good about talking to Gus. She had thought about being able to prove to her mom that she was capable of talking to another human, this whole socialization thing wasn’t hard when she found someone with interests as weird as her’s. 

As they drove on Luz noticed that since Hedge had picked her up they had not stopped at all to pick up any other campers. She had begun to wonder if it would only be her and Gus at the camp. Then again it was possible they were the only ones on his route, the camp probably had other bus drivers picking up campers or parents just dropped them off. Still, something had not sat right in the pit of her stomach by the time that Hedge had pulled the bus over to a rest stop along the highway. 

“Alright cupcakes. Bathroom break, we are almost at the camp and I don’t want any of you showing up and interrupting your orientation by announcing to everyone you have to go potty! Be back in your seats in 15 minutes or I’ll make you do push-ups on the roof of the bus until we get to camp!” Hedge had threatened them, but as soon as he was finished had made a quick beeline straight for the small restroom facility at the rest stop. 

Luz desperately wanted to stretch her legs so she had convinced Gus to get off the bus with her. Even if they were both unsure if Hedge’s threat was a bluff or not.

There was not a lot to the rests top, just the restrooms, a couple picnic tables, and a map of the state of New York in a display case that also held a bunch of brochures for various tourist attractions. Woods stretched on either side of the roadway and there were no other cars or people around that she could see. 

“Come on, Gus. Let’s see how far we are from camp.” Luz said and walked toward the map, Gus quickly followed her. Once they were at the map she looked for the little dot saying “You Are Here” in the upstate part of New York but she could not find it at all. Her frustration must have shown on her face because Gus had then elbowed her and pointed down toward the bottom of the map - a puzzled expression also on his face. There was the “You Are Here” marker, but it was not anywhere near Upstate New York, no, according to the map they were on the far end of Long Island.

“What, that can’t be right. The camp is supposed to be up by the lakes.” Luz looked to Gus who had pulled out a crumpled up copy of the Reality Check camp brochure.

“Yea, you’re right. The brochure says it's outside of Ithaca by the Finger Lakes.” 

“We’re hours away from there. We’re closer to Montauk.”

“Could Hedge have gotten lost? Maybe this is his first time driving to the camp?” Gus provided an answer but he did not seem sure about any of his words, “Are we...are we...being kidnapped?”

“I don’t-”

“We are being kidnapped aren’t we!” Gus slapped his hands to his cheeks, a look of pure dread on his face, “I’m too young to be kidnapped! Wait, no maybe I am the right age for it! GAH!”

“Gus!” Luz grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook him, “Get a hold of yourself. This is no time to panic.”

“Alright, cupcakes. Back on the bus!” Hedge’s voice called out from behind them, Luz and Gus turned to see Hedge striding toward them.

“Stop right there!” Luz demanded and pointed a finger at Hedge who did stop for a moment in surprise it looked like before he scowled and continued to walk toward them. Kramity she cursed to herself before she reached into her backpack and pulled out the heaviest thing she had - her copy of the Good Witch Azura, “Stop right there or-or I’ll use this!”

“Yea!” Gus chimed in from behind her, “Knowledge is a weapon...though the Good Witch Azura is fiction...still if its fiction you can make it anything you want it to be and we choose it to also be a weapon!”

“What are you-” Hedge had begun to say but Luz slapped her book into the side of the map display creating a loud THUNK sound that drowned out his words.

“I’ll be the one asking questions here! We aren’t anywhere close to the camp!” Luz pointed at the map, surprised that she sounded actually eager to get there “Where are you taking us?”

Hedge’s face showed surprise and then quickly aggravated as he muttered something under his breath, “...ods preserve me” Hedge then growled out louder, “I am taking you two to camp. The camp you are supposed to be going to.”

The camp they were supposed to be going to? What did he mean by that Luz wondered. Her thoughts had been interrupted by Gus pulling out a cellphone from his pocket. 

“You better explain everything to us or I’ll call the cops right now!” Gus waved the phone in the air. This actually made Hedge snort with laughter, it sounded like she expected how a goat would laugh if one could laugh.

“You won’t get any cell reception out here. The Mist blocks out cellphone signals.”

The mist?

“Uhh…” Gus swallowed hard as he looked at his phone and then to Luz, “Yea, my phone isn’t getting any signal out here.”

Luz thought the situation was turning out better and better for themselves. Trapped in the middle of almost nowhere with someone who it looked like was kidnapping them and they had no way to call anyone for help. Could things get any worse?

As it turned out. It could get a lot worse.

A truck pulled into the rest stop and it wasn’t any normal truck, it was an actual monster truck. The wheels were easily taller than Luz and Gus together if she had him on her shoulders and they looked like they had been tearing up earth because they were absolutely slathered in mud and grass. The actual body of the car was painted black with green flames and as she looked closer she saw in the decal of the flames were tinier decals of bows and arrows broken apart or on fire. She also noticed what looked like a lyre instrument with its strings all plucked. She thought that was a weird motif to have but to each their own. 

The door on the driver side had been facing toward them and when it swung open Luz had expected whoever had been driving to jump out but instead a single barefoot swung out and went down, down to the ground and then another foot, both attached to the longest pair of legs in jeans that she had ever seen. The rest of the driver’s body came out and when he stood up he was easily taller than the truck he had arrived in. He only wore a black, leather vest, his arms covered in hair and his face looked like it had a perpetual sunburn between the leathery texture and the angry, bright red color to it. Luz had been boggled by the clown-car-esque physics of how this tall guy had fit in the truck she almost did not catch Hedge’s words.

“Luz! Gus! Both of you back in the bus now!” Hedge had completely changed in demeanour, now he looked like a goat that was ready to charge. He had both of his arms tucked back to his body as if he was a football linebacker ready to sprint forward. The very tall man took one look at Hedge and chuckled loudly, it sounded like stone grinding on stone and it did not sound pleasant at all. In fact, something in Luz knew that whoever this was, was more dangerous than Hedge was to her at the moment. 

“Well, well, well.” the tall man clapped his hands together, “It must be my lucky day. Two demigods, one of them whose blood sings to me, and only an old goat to protect them both! It's Tityos’ lucky day!”

Demigods? Luz wondered what the Bad Place was he talking about? 

“Luz…” Gus trembled beside her, his hand tugging at her hand. He pulled her a few steps away from the newcomer. 

“Don’t you run off now!” Tityos rumbled and rubbed his hands together, he was staring directly at Luz as he spoke “I am going to enjoy cutting your strings, little one.”

“Like Tartarus you will!” Hedge yelled, and sprung forward and made to charge at Tityos who turned to raise his hands as if he was going to swat Hedge as if he was a fly. Instead Hedge kicked upward in mid run, his shoe flew off his foot and smacked Tityos right in the face which made the tall man bellow and stumble back against his monster truck, “I never leave home without my steel toed shoes!”

For emphasis Hedge kicked his leg in the air, his hoof sending pebbles from the ground up. 

Luz had gaped and stared. Hedge had a hoof? She looked closer and it was true, instead of a normal, human foot what was peaking out of his baggy sweat pants was a hoof attached to a hairy set of ankles that looked like they belonged to a goat. Beside her, Gus gasped loudly, his eyes seemed to shine with stars.

“Satyrs are reeeeaaal?!?” Gus looked like he wanted to run up to Hedge and poke his hoof. Before he could get the chance Tityos stomped down with one hairy foot, immediately the ground cracked and split, the earth beneath Hedge shuddered before a jagged mound of earth burst out from under him sending him flying clear across the rest stop and into some bushes. 

Tityos turned his head back toward Luz and Gus. 

“Gus! RUUUN!” Luz yelled and pulled the younger boy with her as she turned tail and sprinted across the rest stop toward the forest on the otherside.

“You won’t get away that easily! I will have my vengeance!” Tityos had roared from behind them and though she did not look she knew that he had picked up something. A few seconds later one of the picnic tables crashed down into the air infront of her and Gus, it splintered into a pile of broken wood that blocked her path forward. 

Thinking quickly she shoved Gus aside around the obstacle as she went around the other side, “Split up! I’ll distract! Go get help or something!”

“But Luz-” Gus looked frightened but she cut him off with a wink she had hoped looked confident.

“Don’t worry! I have a plan!” Luz said, even though she had not had a plan. She turned around toward Tityos and cupped her hands to her mouth as she shouted, “COME AND GET ME YOU OVERGROWN DIRT PILE!”

That seemed to get Tityos attention all on her as he turned to face her and began to menace forward, actually he had begun to make his way across the rest stop much quicker than Luz had anticipated.

“Right, longer legs means longer strides,” Luz smacked her head. She looked to see Gus had followed her order and was already disappearing into the woods. So she took off in the opposite direction into the woods, she hoped it would be enough to lead Tityos away from Gus. She had hoped that when Tityos lumbered through the trees they would slow him down much more than her, and she was right there - but she had not accounted for the fact that now Tityos had more things to throw at her.

“GAAAAH!” Luz screamed out loud as a tree trunk smashed into another tree just to her right. The sound of it crashing and splintering trees had been enough warning for her to zig-zag away from the impact. In her head she swore words in Spanish that if her mom knew she knew then Luz knew she would be grounded for a month. 

Luz had always been a good runner, it was only because running in a circle was so boring she had never joined her school’s track team. Then running through the forest while an almost literal giant chased after her was certainly more interesting even if it meant she was in danger of being turned into paste. 

Through the treeline she thought she saw a clearing ahead, maybe a hill with a pine tree ontop of it? Her legs had begun to feel like jelly but somehow she knew in her gut if she made it to the tree she would be safe. It was a weird sensation, almost like a sixth sense, but she did not have the luxury of time to think about it then and there. 

Just as she broke the tree line she heard the sound of Tityos throwing his fourth or fifth tree but at that exact moment she tripped suddenly over what felt like a root. She stumbled and fell face forward, her arms outstretched and her Good Witch Azura book still in hand. She felt something in her ankle give and knew immediately something had sprained. The tree sailed over her and crashed into the clearing ahead but it was large enough that with her sprained ankle there was no way Luz could vault or run around it. 

“Your race is done, Little Arrow. Time to break!” Tityos loomed above her now, his ugly face gleamed down at her with a revolting expression of twisted joy. 

“Ugh! Leave me alone! You monster! And make up your mind! Am I an arrow you are going to break or am I a stringed instrument?” Luz cried out in frustration, she cocked her arm back and threw her book at Tityos. She had not expected it to do much but she wanted to cause him some kind of discomfort before she was squashed flat. The book sailed through the air surprisingly gracefully and smacked into the side of Tityos’ chest covered by his vest. The act did far more than Luz expected as the monster’s eyes bulged out and he let loose a roar of pain and agony. Shocked, he stumbled backward, he clutched the spot where the book had hit him and tore off his vest leaving his torso bare. What Luz had seen next made her want to barf.

In the side of his hairy chest was hole, which she could see his insides - muscle, veins, some of his ribs and a shredded looking organ that from her mom’s anatomy charts had to be his liver. It looked like someone had taken a meat tenderizer and gone to town on it.

“RRRagh! I escaped Tartarus but still bear the wound of my torture! That’s why I’ll never give up on hunting the children of your Fath-” Tityos had begun to get back to his feet shakily and looked like he was going to pummel her with his fists - but then a fireball erupted in his face.  
“Hey tiny! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” a voice called down from above Luz. She looked up and for the second time that day her jaw dropped. 

There was a woman.

A woman floating in mid-air on a staff which had an owl shaped top.

The woman looked absolutely mad! Her hair was two tones of grey and was bushy and wild like the rest of her. She had to be in her forties but she pulled off the bright orange dress she wore perfectly even if it looked like it had been washed in a wood chipper by the way the hem was torn. It had what looked like a flying pegasus on the front. She had one golden tooth that shined while she smiled and her eyes were colored grey and looked like she knew a terribly good secret. 

“Ungh! Owl Lady!” Tityos growled, his facial was singed completely by the fireball which only made his sunburn seem worse. He certainly looked like he was in a lot of pain. “Come down here and fight me like a true demigod!”

“Hmmmm,” the Owl Lady seemed to ponder his question for a second but then shook her head, “Naaah. Where is the fun in that?”

She waved her arms in the air and to Luz’ surprise and delight, circles of red light appeared in the air and once they formed a barrage of red fire erupted and crashed into Tityos.

Magic. She was seeing magic! Just like in the Good Witch Azura! Was she a witch? Could she teach Luz magic? This a thousand other questions erupted in her mind. 

“I WILL BE BACK! I WILL HAVE MY-” Tityos yelled in agony. 

“Yea, yea, just poof already.” The Owl Lady rolled her eyes and immediately her staff moved through the air on wooden wings straight toward Tityos like she was a living missile. At the last moment she grabbed her staff from beneath her and swung it down like a club into Tityos’ exposed liver. Tityos’ form burst into a cloud of golden dust that left a foul smell in the air. 

“Well that was fun,” the Owl Lady said as she stretched and then turned to Luz, “Oh, hey. Uh. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, kiddo.”

Luz had immediately blacked out. She did not know it at the time but this was the start of her new life that would change everything.


	2. Everyone Has Some Explaining To Do

-The Patriarch seeks vengeance against his children, a new age will begin.-

Luz tried to open her eyes but she couldn’t, they felt almost as if they had been sealed shut. It felt like she was floating through the air, falling down.

-The Matriarch stirs in her slumber, violence born from her plans again.-

After what seemed like an eternity she managed to open her eyes, but just barely. A sea of mists rose up from below and swallowed her.

-Children of Lightning, Sea, and the Beyond, are caught in webs and plots.-

She felt like she was drowning, water filled her lungs but she did not react. Numbed to all feelings she could only watch as she sank deeper into the darkness. 

-The Sun’s light shines, lest loyalties be forgot.-

-  
Luz opened her eyes, and immediately regretted it. Her vision swam, it made her feel like she had been picked up by her legs and shaken around until her brains had fallen out. Her head felt like it was going to split apart, and she couldn’t feet her right foot at all. She also felt like she was being smothered, she could not move her body at all. Maybe being encased in pudding was more accurate? Had something happened to her recently? She had been dreaming? She could not remember her dream at all - she tried to picture it but all she saw was white mist. Her mind was blank. 

The weirdest thing about it all was the taste in her mouth. It tasted like she had been eating a hot chimichurri sandwich like - no, exactly like, the ones made by the shop she always went to with her mom. 

“Well?” a girl’s voice said softy, but with the kind of tone that would have been used when asking something and expecting bad news or rejection. Aggressive but apprehensive at the sametime. Like asking her mom if the bruise she had gotten from falling off her bike looked gross underneath the bandaid. 

“I don’t know. She’s been asleep all day. I couldn’t make out what she was mumbling.” another girl’s voice said, this one sounded more contemplative as if she was looking at a puzzle or trying to undo a knot of hair. “What about the other one?”

“No, definitely not him.” the first voice snorted, “If he’s the one we are all doomed already. Might as well take the next available handbasket to Hades.” 

“You of all people should know not to judge a book by its cover,” the second voice said, and it sounded patronizing.

“Ugh. Whatever. So it’s going to be this one or the other one unless more demigods decide to drop in our lap before the Summer Solstice.”

Luz wondered what they were talking about. Were they referring to her and someone else? What were they looking for? Why were they all doomed? Her mind was starting to boil over with questions but before she knew it she had faded back into slumber because in what seemed like a moment she was outside. 

Yes, she was sitting in a deck chair on a porch that seemed to wrap around a fairly large looking house. Ahead of her she could see fairly far into a valley that stretched all the way to the Long Island shoreline. There were buildings between her and the sea, but what she saw made her wonder if she was still dreaming. There were dozens of small buildings here and there that had a vaguely Greek or Roman style to them. There was an open amphitheater and an open air pavilion that looked to be made of fresh marble. What looked like cabins, a sandpit, stables, a dock that bristled with canoes and an archery range. There were people spread out among all of this, they all seemed to be wearing orange shirts - they looked like they were kids from the young to high school years in age. 

Oh, and there were horses with wings, some of the people walked on hairy legs that ended in hooves, and at least one woman with wings that she suspected was a harpy.

“What!” Luz made to leap up out of her chair but she was more tired than she had thought as instead of a clumsy leap all she could manage was thrusting her hands clumsily into the air and then falling back down. 

“Easy there, kid. Don’t fall out of your chair and break your neck.” The Owl Lady she had seen before was there on the porch! She had changed out of her bright orange dress, instead she had replaced it with a much comfortable looking pair of grey sweatpants and a bright orange sweater with the same logo of the Pegasus Luz had seen earlier. She shoved a mug of something into Luz’s hands, “Here, drink this. It’ll calm you down. If not, nothing will, trust me”

Luz did not immediately drink, instead she stared. “What?”

“There isn’t anything...special in that is there?” a well-spoken sounding voice asked, and Luz looked to see an older man who looked like he was a professor who looked like he had just finished teaching a college class. His tweed jacket and his bushy eyebrows were a dead giveaway for Luz. Also, below his waistline he had the body of a horse.

Luz stared. She really stared, really hard. 

“What…?” she mouthed softly, neither the Owl Lady or the Half-Horse Man seemed to notice.

“Oh, please.” The Owl Lady rolled her eyes, “That was one time Chiron and the kid had almost become the world’s flattest demigod thanks to that Colchis Bull. He EARNED a stiff drink!”

“”What…?” Luz said again, this time a little louder. She did not think anyone had heard her again until a voice to her right answered.

“Young lady if you want an answer you will have to actually ask a question.” a small, but porky man said, he had been pinching the bridge of his nose tightly - as if this was the hundredth time he had heard the argument between the other two. He wore a tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt and he looked like he wanted a drink. Other than that nothing seemed strange about him - at least in comparison to the other two. Just a normal man sitting in a chair in front of a deck table and drinking a can of coke soda. His words made her blush in embarrassment.

“Oops, sorry!” she slapped a hand over her mouth, then wondered why she had done that. 

“That’s sorry, sir.” the Not-Half-Anything Man grunted.

“Oops, sorry, sir!” Luz repeated her words and then added in the sir at the end. That only seemed to make him seem more annoyed. Luz shifted back in her seat and looked down embarrassed again, then something clicked inside of her. “Waitaminute! I have a question. No wait, make that two dozen questions!”

“Haha -snort,” the Owl Lady chuckled and then snorted, “Don’t we all, kid.”

“I understand, you are more than in your right to have questions. As Eda and Mr. D have both pointed out, Miss. Noceda.” Chiron, held up a hand for peace toward the Owl Lady who was apparently called Eda.

“Okay, we can start there. How do you know my name, Mr. Half-Horse?” Luz turned and pointed a finger at the man-horse-man. For some reason her words seemed to make the Owl Lady laugh again, but louder.

“My name,” Chiron sent a disapproving scowl in Eda’s direction before he turned back to face Luz, “Is Chiron. I am a centaur-”

“Waitwaitwait! A centaur? Like a real-” Luz had begun to interrupt but her interruption was further interrupted by the man who she guessed, by process of elimination, was Mr. D. He slammed a coke can on the table in front of him, Luz heard thunder above them as he spoke.

“Young lady, it's not proper to interrupt someone when they are speaking. I greatly suggest you let him do so.” 

Luz felt a shiver pass through her body to the core. Before she could stop herself she pictured images of ancient bacchanal parties where wine flowed like water which soon turned to riots of madness as the party-goers tore each other apart or giggled to themselves on the floor. Men and women turned into animals, sometimes on the outside and sometimes only inside. As soon as the images had arrived they were gone and they had only seemed to make Luz incredibly thirsty.

“I-I, uh, sorry Mr. Chiron. Please continue.” Luz finally brought the mug that Eda had given her and sipped it. Oofta! Whatever was in her cup it made her feel all warm and tingly inside. “Oh that’s good stuff.”

“See? What did I say?” Eda grinned wickedly, then coughed into her hand and nodded at Chiron as a signal to continue.

“Thank you, it is alright.” Chiron smiled weakly and patted her arm, “Yes, I am a real centaur. Once of the first. You see, Miss. Noceda, all of the myths and stories you may have heard and been told about Greek...mythology...well, there is a great amount of credibility to them. To the heroes, to the monsters, and to the gods...which is what concerns you.”

“You're a demigod, kid. Your mom is a mortal human and your father is one of the Greek gods!” Eda declared and spread her arms out like she had just given great news. Her father, who she had never met in her life, was a god? Luz Noceda, potentially one of the weirdest of weirdos with an imagination that’s metaphorical light switch was turned on constantly who liked reptiles and editing music videos to anime was the daughter of a god. 

“No way” Luz replied to Eda.

“Yes, way,” Eda answered in turn.

“No, no. That can’t be right. I mean, I am still not 100% sure if this is real and maybe I just fell asleep on the bus to Reality Check Camp. My father, he could not have been a god or something,” Luz looked around at the faces surrounding her for reassurance and was crestfallen when none of them seemed to give her the thumbs up that she was right. 

“Well, at least this one isn’t your father.” 

Eda pointed to Mr. D with her thumb who in response just rolled his eyes and held out his hand. Immediately from thin air or possibly a pocket dimension a brand new can of coke shimmered into existence. Luz faintly heard the sounds of a choir singing in the background before it faded when Mr. D reached up and unceremoniously took the can, popped it open and began to drink from it. 

“Ah.” Luz’s mind filled with a potentially unhealthy amount of background information and facts did some mental file shuffling. Yes, there was a Greek god of drinking wasn’t there? Whose name definitely started with the letter D. “You...you’re....Dennis, aren’t you?”

“He is! He sure is!” Eda hooted some more and it sounded like she was about ready to laugh up at least one lung. 

“Father please save me from this place,” Mr. D sighed into his hands, a rumble of thunder in the distance seemed to respond with an unsympathetic ‘No’.

“Technically, the name Dennis is derived from his Greek name, yes.” Chiron tried not to look at Mr.D as he spoke if he did then Chiron would have been the not-so-proud recipient of an intense glare, “His name is Dionysus” thunder rumbled above again, “Please call him Mr. D.” 

“Figures the first kid knew practically everything about the gods and then the girl that came with him knows zip!” Eda said after finally getting her laughter under control. Other kid? Could she have meant-

“Wait, are you talking about Gus?” Luz asked and immediately her memories fell back into place. Waiting for the bus. Her eardrums almost bursting from Coach Hedge’s megaphone. Meeting Gus. The rest stop. The monster truck. The actual monster that drove the monster truck. Running and- it was too much. Her mind felt like it was on fire. 

“Is he okay? Did he make it here? Is Coach Hedge okay?” Luz asked Chiron then turned and spat out another string of questions, “You were using magic when you took down that giant guy! Do you know more magic? Are you a witch? Can you teach me magic? Is magic real?”

“Mr. Porter is fine. A little shaken but absolutely brimming with questions” Chiron answered first, a proud smile creeping into his face, “You did a very brave thing leading the giant away. He was able to circle around and help Mr. Hedge back to his feet. He was able to use his woodland magic to send us a warning and fortunately Eda was able to arrive just in time.”

“Yes, I am a witch!” Eda answered next, absolutely smug as she spoke, “I am Eda the Owl Lady! The greatest and most powerful mortal witch from here to Colchis! C.C. and Little Miss Princess don’t count since they are immortal.”

Those last words were directed at Chiron who looked like he had been about to correct her. Chiron coughed into a hand instead. 

“Oh my gosh! That means magic is real isn’t it? Can I learn how to-” Luz had begun to ask more questions again when Mr. D coughed loudly over her.

“Right, I’ve had enough of this. It is almost supper time.” Mr. D grunted as he hauled himself to his feet, “You two give her the ins and outs of being a demigod on the way to eat. Give me a ten minute head start so I don’t have to hear anymore of this. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood Luz Noceda and goodbye.”

With that he stormed off, wel not so much stormed as walked away but Luz got the distinct feeling he was a bit annoyed with her. 

“Eeeh, don’t worry about it. Everything annoys him because his Daddy banned him from drinking any wine for about...oh the last century.” Eda grinned and winked at her.

“Wow, did you read my mind? Is that a magic spell you know?” Luz asked, her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. Witches were real. Witches were real! Just like the Good Witch Azura! 

“Nah, I am just really good at reading people.” Eda reached down and ruffled Luz’s hair. “Like the Half-Horse said, your little friend is alright. Asked a lot of questions too but he just spaced his out better than your’s. Pretty sure we might be related-”

“Related? Really like-” Luz pointed her hands toward the sky, “Do you share a cosmic, god daddy too?” 

“No, no. More like we share the same mother.” Eda stuck one of her hands into the wild mane that was her hair and pulled out her staff with the wooden owl on top - even though there was no way it could have fit at all. “The grey eyes are a dead giveaway, hair is different though but like me I could sense the intellect and wisdom natural to him as it is to all of Athenas’ children!”

“Fortunately we have not seen any signs of hubris,” Chiron commented, which earned him a huff from Eda, “Athena, the goddess of war, arts, and crafts.”

Luz tried to imagine Gus acting fierce while waving a sword around and threatening his foes with violence but it only made her giggle. 

“I embody my Mother’s drive for ambition and learning - mostly the esoteric knowledge you can guess.” Eda shrugged, “Granted, even though we all popped out of her head one day we are our own people.”

“You and Gus did what-”

“Something for another day, perhaps.” Chiron waved a hand gently to calm Luz down again, “You have been on the camp’s radar for sometime. Your mother however did not want you to come here. When our satyr scouts saw hints of particularly dangerous monsters starting to migrate toward-”  
“My mom...knows I...I might be-she didn’t want me to come here?” Luz looked down at her hands, heavy emotions swirled inside of her “Why?”

“I do not know your mother well, we have only spoken once in person” Chiron looked sadly at her, “She did not want you to become involved with...your heritage. She was greatly worried about your safety, she hoped you would continue to blend in with normal mortal society. Most demigods are sensed by monsters and others when they are twelve or so, you are a bit of a late bloomer. I believe she wished to send you to the ‘Reality Check’ camp in hopes it would help you hide.” 

“To be more boooring” Eda shook her head, “When we heard about it we decided to pull a con of our own and...well...you almost got here without any problems.”

Her mom knew and had wanted to...protect her? Look at all the good that had done! She had almost been squashed under some monster’s hairy feet! No, that had not been her mom’s fault. She knew her mami loved her and would have done anything to protect her from harm. Still, that she had been keeping half of Luz’ life a secret from her stung and she did not remotely know what she would say to her about all of this. Luz fished her hand into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone but saw immediately it was dead.

“Apologies, those things have a way of amplifying the presence of a demigod. It puts everyone in danger. One of our campers was able to pull out the...battery, yes that's the word, your battery to your cellular device.” Chiron said, and then added, “If you wish to send her a letter our harpy mail service is quite accurate and fast.”

While the fact that they had all but admitted to kidnapping her was alarming, being unable to search the web or post on her favorite websites shriveled a part of Luz’ nerd brain. By the way things were going her future looked fairly rustic if not outright archaic. 

“Coach Hedge, you said he is alright too?” Luz asked, she felt guilty now about accusing him of kidnapping them (for bad reasons) when he had been doing it for good reasons.

“Yea, he’ll be fine. Satyrs get kicked in the head all the time!” Eda snickered, then sobered as she continued, “Though losing the both of you to a monster a mile from camp isn’t going to look good on him. The Council might end up sending him out west for a while.”

“Who or what was that guy? He was pretty gung-ho about crushing our bones to make his bread, rawrr!” Luz crooked her fingers into claws and made exaggerated stomping motions with her feet. 

“His name was Tityos.” Chiron’s face grew worried, “He is a giant from the womb of the earth on the island of Euboda in Greece. He was punished for...his actions... in older days. His re-appearance is troubling, especially as he was confined to Tartarus for several centuries with vultures pecking at his liver which would grow back every day. At least before he broke free and went into hiding in the wider world.”

“Talk about creepy.” Luz gagged a bit at remembering the giant’s exposed insides, “At least he is gone for good now!”

Chiron and Eda did not reply immediately. 

The chances that it was nothing to worry about crashed and burned with Eda.

“Kind of, but not really. Old monsters, especially known ones like that guy, are sort of...also immortal. They poof. Go straight to Tartarus for a while then pop back up. Granted if the pull of Tartarus is strong they start there-”

“Are you telling me he is going to come back? I saw him explode though! That’s not fair! How long do I have?” Luz reached out and grabbed Eda by her arms before she began to shake the Owl Lady for answers.

“Easy, easy. You got time, kid.” Eda gently pushed Luz’ arms away, “Could be a month, could be a century.”

“A month!?!” Luz dropped back into her chair and whined, she was despair incarnate “What am I supposed to do when he comes back? 

“What all of the other campers do!” Chiron said, enthusiasm in his voice, “Train, like all of the other campers.”

Luz looked up and out across the valley at the campers wearing the orange shirts. Some were canoeing and riding horses, or perhaps they were training for naval assaults and mounted charges. Some looked like they were making crafts and singing songs, or maybe learning to build armor and keeping up morale in the most dire of times. Others were holding shields and mock swords while others were practicing archery - she did not need to guess that they were training for combat there.

Still, Luz knew she had weak nerd arms. What good would she be in a fight? Curling up inside of her hoody and surrendering would probably not go well for her - neither would throwing a book again. Then again there was the possibility, that faint hope that rose deep inside of her core, she could learn magic…

“Let’s discuss your schedule of activities tomorrow. Supper is almost ready and we want to get you there for your first introductions. Afterward Eda can take you to Cabin Eleven, when you will stay until you are determined.” Chiron said as he climbed to his feet - no, hooves. He towered over her but the tweed jacket really did not help him look threatening at all. What did determined mean?

“I agree, I’m starving. Come on, lets go.” Eda reached down and pulled Luz to her feet - dragging her along as the three of them walked away from the porch and into the camp below. Luz did not stop asking questions of course but they were more pointed toward the things she was seeing. The house they had come from was the Big House. The camp was called Camp Half-Blood due to the nature of their campers. The strawberries were delicious. It was not a good idea to try to ride a pegasus before she knew how to ride a regular horse. Questions about how long she would be here and what was she going to do afterward were kept quietly to herself.

Finally, they arrived at an open pavilion area where Luz saw there were more and more campers the closer they arrived to their destination. More than she expected and she quieted down any questions she might have had about how often the gods took mortal lovers. One table had belching, arguing campers who seemed ready to knock each other out at the ring of a bell. Another table had grey-eyed campers and immediately Luz could see the family resemblance that Eda had been talking about. As she passed a table filled with absolutely gorgeous looking boys and girls, one of the girls looked up and winked at her - she hoped she hid her blush well enough - Luz felt like she could walk on air. 

Not to mention more satyrs and girls with green hair she learned were ‘naids’ and others were ‘nymphs’. Torches blazed on the marble columns she had seen from a distance with a central fire really putting on the head in a bathtub shaped brazier. Some of the tables were empty, while the one they were headed towards first was absolutely crowded with people. She saw Gus talking to a boy seated next to him. 

She was glad to see with her own eyes he was safe. At least he looked happy. 

One of the older looking campers got up as they approached, he looked like he was in his final year of high school and that scar! Oh, boy Luz’s ‘bad boy’ alarm was ringing off the hook. How did she look? Did she have bad breath? 

“Another one for Cabin Eleven? We are going to have to start making some of the newcomers sleep on the roof pretty soon, sir.” the Bad Boy laughed and winked at Luz - sending her trapped back into the ‘blushing realm’. 

“Miss. Noceda is undetermined. I will think about putting in a request to Mr. D about more mattresses, but I know you can manage everyone until then, Mr. Castellan.” Chiron nodded and bid her goodbye before trotting off to a picnic table off to the side.

“Have fun! Be careful, I’ve played cards with some of these kids and they are awful cheats!” Eda snorted and slapped Luz on the back before she joined Chiron at his table.

“Welcome to Cabin Eleven,” Mr. Castellan smiled, and Luz could not help but smile back.

“You too...I mean, happy to be here! There! Wherever it is.” Luz stumbled over her words, embarrassed, if the ground opened up and swallowed her she wouldn’t mind that much at the moment. “My name is Luz!”

“Don’t worry about what Chiron said, we will find you a comfortable spot at the cabin. Until then why don’t you sit with the newbies. You can also call me Luke” Luke waved and turned back toward the table, Luz followed behind him quickly and tried not to stare - too much. She glanced at the other campers at the table. They certainly looked like an interesting bunch. She could make out family resemblances here and there. The same nose. The same set of freckles. Even a couple matched with a set of green hair. Luke waved her over to where Gus was sitting before he sat back down.

“Luz!” Gus cried out when he saw her, one hand waved excitedly while the other slapped a free spot next to himself and another boy. “You made it! I knew you would! Isn’t this place amazing?”

She could practically see the stars in his eyes.

“It’s something alright,” Luz said and sat down, the other boy had much darker hair than Luke’s, he was perhaps a year younger than her? He smelled like something, it wasn’t bad but she could not place her finger on it. She waved a hand at him.

“Hi! I’m Luz! Luz Noceda.”

“The name’s Percy, Percy Jackson. Nice to, uh, meet you.”

Sea salt. That’s what he smelled like.


	3. Luz Overthinks Everything

The next morning Luz had awoken on the floor of Cabin Eleven, or Hermes Cabin, in her sleeping bag (which had been recovered from the bus) and for perhaps the third or fourth time realized everything that had happened to her had not been a dream. 

After she had freshened up and returned to the mess hall area as a single cabin the hundred or so campers had broken up into activities for the day. Of course she had wanted to march straight to Eda, wherever she lived, and get on her hands and knees to beg the Owl Lady to teach Luz magic. Instead she had been invited by Percy to join him and Gus for lessons in Greek - which apparently her mind was hardwired to read - at least according to Annabeth Chase. Who, to her surprise, seemed perfectly fine with teaching them all together.

Percy had joked he had been grateful that they had shown up as it meant he no longer stood out as the newest demigod at camp. Though she had a feeling he may have also wanted someone as new to the language as he was around so he did not seem as stupid infront of Annabeth. As a daughter of Athena, Luz was surprised just how dissimilar in personality she was to Eda. At times Annabeth’s seriousness bordered on military drill sergeant levels, compared to Eda who seemed to joke and laugh constantly. 

“Usually when a mother gives birth to a new child she has something very specific on her mind.” Annabeth had sighed and shook her head, “I have not figured what that could have been for Eda.”

When the topic had veered off to the children of other goddesses, when the name ‘Hecate’ had come up it had struck Luz like a sunbeam. 

“Wait? Do you mean the same Hecate from the Good Witch Azura series is the Goddess of Magic?” Luz had jumped out of her seat and grabbed Annabeth by her shoulders, “There’s a goddess of magic?”

“Yes, she is the Goddess of Magic along with crossroads, the mist and the night.” Annabeth firmly pulled Luz off of her with a grip that certainly belonged on a drill sergeant, “Though, I would not go around mentioning that book series - or anything from comics or tv shows that depict the gods.”

“Why's that?” Percy asked confused, “You’d figure they would like the attention.”

“Sometimes,” Annabeth, “However the gods are not always portrayed as they are - or to be more specific - they don’t like it when they are portrayed as the bad guys. Like Hecate who I believe is the book’s antagonist?”

“Well, she does certainly maintain an antagonistic relationship with Azura at first but it is more of a rivalry,” Luz responded, her mind immediately switched over to ‘Fandom Expert’ mode, “The author expands on Hecate’s motivations in book 4 and by book 5 they have gone down the Rivals-to-Friends trope which for me was very satisfying to read. I mean I cried when they-”  
“THE point being,” Annabeth interrupted, “Around here, especially, the children of the gods can get very defensive about their divine parent. When that book came out her kids here at camp were in an uproar-”

“Oh! She has kids here?” Luz leaned closer, she needed answers, “I didn’t see a cabin for-”

“You wouldn’t,” Gus chimed in, “The cabins here are for the Twelve, the Olympian gods. The children of the minor gods, such as Hypnos, Nemesis, and Hecate bunk with us undetermined kids in Hermes’ cabin. He is the patron of travelers after all, and what is life if not a road we all travel-”

“Waaaait, you mean I was sleeping a few feet away from-. I mean I figured they were all undetermined or Hermes.” Luz slapped herself in her forehead, “Does that mean they can do magic too? Annabeth, please, please tell me they can teach me magic!?!”

“They can do magic, but-”

“That’s great, which ones are-”

“-BUT, it is actually Eda who teaches about magic in camp.”

“Even better! We’re kind of good pals at this point. She saved my life after all.” Luz snapped her fingers and pointed at herself. Wait, maybe that was not a good thing to point out, not very heroic, right?

“Well, you are in luck. It’s Friday and the Cabin Eleven campers get to take Eda’s magic lessons as an optional course. Though, I’d be careful about getting your hopes up as she tends to…”

Annabeth’s words faded from Luz’s hearing as she dove into her own thoughts. Magic was real! Magic was real, and she, Luz Noceda, was going to learn to do magic! Just like Azura! She was going to be Luzura! If she had been dreaming she never wanted to wake up from this young adult fantasy adventure.

The rest of Annabeth’s lessons seemed to speed past her and it was only when Chiron called for her attention that her full focus returned. 

“Impressive...rate of fire, Miss. Noceda, but your aim could use a little work.” Chiron tapped on the bow in Luz’s hands and pointed toward her handiwork. Her arrows were spread out around her target but they were anywhere but close to the bullseye target. Yikes! It had been a miracle she had not hit anyone unlucky enough to have been walking by. 

“Sorry, sir. I kind of have a lot on my mind,” Luz cringed and rubbed the back of her head. The centaur nodded sympathetically.   
“I understand, my dear. You have had a lot thrust upon you in so little amount of time. I’ve seen it before, after a few days I think you will start to get into the pace of things here.” 

“Hehe...sure.” Luz replied. She tried to return and focus on the rest of the archery lesson but her mind just wasn’t on it and instead watched as others took their turns practicing. How long had she dreamed of being able to do magic? Ever since she was a kid, but as she had become older she had realized that any chance of doing magic she had would only be in her mind or in her fanfiction. So, she had plunged into it with gusto until her mom had hoped to bring her back to what she thought was reality Now here she was, fourteen years old and thrust into a world of magic and mystery - granted it was technically the same world she had always lived in but now it was an extra layer of cheese on a pizza pie had been lifted. 

“Earth to Luz” Percy’s voice brought her out of her thoughts again, they were walking back toward Cabin Eleven their archery practice finished. Percy’s messy jet black hair immediately caught her attention, but then it was his green eyes against his tanned skin, not quite as brown as her darker skin courtesy of her dominican heritage but he certainly looked like he had just walked off a beach. 

“Luz is not here right now, please leave a message,” Gus spoke through his hands to make his voice sound muffled like a voice recording. 

“Luz, if you stop paying attention to where you are going you’re going to end up in the lake or the Long Island Sound.” Percy smirked and bumped her with an elbow. 

“Sorry-not-sorry,” Luz returned the smirk, “I’m a mighty demigod! I walk where I want! Rawr!” Luz clenched her hands and shook them at the sky. Gus laughed but Percy only made a half-hearted chuckle before he frowned and looked away. “Oops, sorry. Did I-”?

“No, you’re alright. It’s me.” Percy sounded exasperated, “At times I still feel like I’m in a dream or will wake up and my Mom will be there…”

He definitely sounded hurt. From what she had heard over dinner he had arrived a few days before she and Gus had - and Eda had been there to save him or his Mom from a rampaging minotaur, well, The Minotaur.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Luz tried to cheer him up, “I mean once your Dad-”

“I just don’t know if that’s going to happen,” Percy shook his head, “I’ve talked to some of the other kids in Cabin Eleven. Some of them have not been claimed, and it's possible to go years without that happening.”

She had not thought of that. She did not know what would even happen when she was claimed, let alone if she would be claimed. He was a god, and it wasn’t like he had made time to see her once - even in disguise - in fourteen years.  
“Hey! You three!” Luz, Gus, and Percy looked up to see a pair of older campers who looked like they were about sixteen or seventeen, one boy and one girl, waving at them in front of Hermes Cabin. They looked like fraternal twins, Luz had remembered seeing both of them last night at dinner and briefly in the cabin before lights out. With hair that green they tended to stand out.

“Percy we know, but you two must be Gus, and Luz, right?” the girl-twin asked as they approached. Behind them were a few other campers she recognized from Cabin Eleven, some had the same almost-pointy ears that the two twins, but after a moment she saw a couple were actually from other cabins. One dark skinned girl she had seen sitting at the table for Cabin Seven or Apollo’s Cabin, a boy from Demeter’s table and a few others she did not recognize. 

“Allow us to introduce ourselves, I’m Edric Blight” the boy said before he waved his arm to the girl, “This is my sister Emira. She’s also a Blight.” 

“We’re sort of the unofficial vice-counsellors of Cabin Eleven under Luke.” Emira continued without missing a beat, “We are about to head off to the Owl House for the cabin’s Friday magic lessons. Want to come along?” 

“Do I ever?!?” Luz gasped, her worriedness pushed away at the prospect of learning magic, “Are you guys coming?”

She had asked Percy and Gus, the former looked hesitant but the later looked like he was onboard. The Bight twins picked up on his unease. 

“Don’t worry. It’s usually safe at the Owl House. You’ll have fun with Eda!” Emira said before she hooked an arm around his shoulders and started to walk with him, Edric quickly followed suit and then they were all walking.

“The….Owl House?” Percy asked with a defeated tone, he did not look happy but he seemed willing to go along probably for lack of anything better to do.

“Yea! It’s Eda’s shack by the Forest!” Edric replied.

“You mean...the forest that has monsters in it?” Gus hesitated as he asked, perhap suddenly regretting being so enthusiastic before. 

“Don’t worry. There is a magic barrier keeping them in the woods, and the Owl House is mostly outside of it.” Emira said cheerfully.

“Wow...you seem really into learning about magic.” Luz said, her enthusiasm only seemed to grow with every step she took.

“We are the kids of the Goddess of Magic. It’s kind of our thing,” Edric laughed.

“Oh! Hecate!” Luz said, the sky thundered and she clamped a hand on her mouth. She had to remember Annabeth’s advice. Don’t talk about the Good Witch Azura. 

It would be a struggle but she thought she could manage it. With sufficient reward.

They walked past the arena, where she could see the Ares Cabin campers were busy trying to chop each other's heads with what did look like actual swords. The kind that were made of metal and hurt when you got stabbed by them. Their angry shouts and roars made it hard not to notice them. One of them, a tall girl with fierce, piggy eyes looked at them as they walked along. Luz swore she could see here narrow and mouth a curse in their direction. What did they do wrong? 

Once they were past the arena it was a short walk to the Owl House. The front was made of white plaster and it was kind of bell-shaped, with a door at the center-bottom and in the center-top where the roof curved together was a large stain-glass window mostly colored yellow and orange. It looked like the eye of a dark lord. Other parts of the house looked cobbled together and a little chaotic, the back was dominated by a broken, stone tower that rose at least twenty feet above the roof. In short, it definitely looked like a magical house. 

Someone was yelling at the magical house.

“Uggh. Let me in you-you bird tube!” an immensely aggravated girl’s voice growled out. There was a girl in front of the door, she was wearing the same orange Camp Half-Blood shirt as everyone else except she wore pink leggings and grey shorts. Also, her hair which fell down around her face in locks had almost the same shade of green as the Blight Twins except for a shock of chestnut brown hair in the front. 

“Hoot! Can’t let you in without the paaaasswoooord! Hoot hoot!” a high pitched and frankly very annoying sounding voice shrilly called back. Luz did not see anyone else, was someone talking through the door?

“Yo Mittens! Did you get the door open?” Edric called out. Emira turned to them and winked, “Amity, our full blood sister. We like to call her ‘Mittens’ because the first spell she tried encased her hand in stone mittens for like all day and it was hilarious.”

“Does it look like the door is open?” Amity called back and turned toward them, she certainly had the same pale features that were shared among the other children of Hecate. Though, her gaze, as if it was fueled by a fire behind her eyes, sent a shiver down Luz’ spine. Her voice also sounded familiar, but she could not remember where she had heard it before. 

Luz’s eyes were drawn away from Amity immediately by the face that was behind her. The face in the door shaped like a cartoonish owl with light brown feathers, a small beak and two black eyes that looked vacant but it a creepy, soulless way. 

Then it talked and Luz had to stop herself from flinching.

“Hoothoothoot! You know the rules! Hoot! If thee wish to pass Hooty! You must answer the password of me!” the owl face, Hooty, screeched and then it did something worse. The face came out of the door but it did detach, no it just kept stretching like toothpaste fresh out of the tube or like a worm out of the ground. It just kept rising out, the feathers of its tube-like body a darker brown and looked kind of moist, it extended thirty feet across the ground until it was only a few feet away. Luz shuddered. 

“Newbies” Emira flourished her hand in the Owl-Tube's direction, “Meet Hooty. The House Daimon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoothoothoothoothoothoothooothoooooooooot.
> 
> Still, undecided about Willow. I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head but have not decided yet. 
> 
> Next chapter! Magic Lesson and Capture the Flag!


	4. A MAgic Lesson, A Friendly GAme, And A RevelAtion. It WAs A Busy DAy.

“Woah, wait a minute. Did you say, he is a demon?” Percy looked incredulous at the Owl-Tube.

“You mean like, from the Bad Place?” Luz added and eyed Hooty warily.

“Maaaaaybe!” Hooty hooted before he started to wriggle around in the air, his elongated body bending side to side in the air, “I am full of dark and terrible secrets! And bugs, yummy bugs!”

“No, don’t you know anything?” Amity groaned in exasperation and glared at Luz and Percy. She did not know why but it felt like Amity’s glare was mainly focused on Luz, “Not a demon. A Daimon. D-A-I-M-O-N”.

“Oooooh.” Gus snapped his fingers, “In Greek mythology, well I guess not mythology, daimons are spirits that in terms of power are between a god and a mortal. Usually they were considered invisible house helpers but creatures like dryads and satyrs were also considered daimons.”

“House helpers? What, like if you lost your keys they would make then appear?” Percy said.

“The little guy’s got it!” Emira nodded, “When the gods came to America so did many of the daimons. Even the King of Daimons.”

“The King of Daimons?” Luz asked, she imagined a giant monster with sharp teeth and terrifying red eyes that thirsted for blood.

“Yea, well until he got voted out of being the King of Daimons,” Edric smirked. 

“He was voted out...of being king?” Gus asked skeptical.

“Yea, the daimons wanted to try democracy so they asked the King of Daimons for a vote. He laughed in their face but went along with it because he figured no one would vote against him since he was their ruler.”

“He lossed in a landslide” Emira giggled, “Now he’s out there somewhere. Thirsting for vengeance and the return of his crown.”

O-kay,” Percy said, “Why does he need a password though? Why can’t we just go inside?

“Hoot, Eda said she doesn’t feel like teaching today and to tell you to get lost.” Hooty hooted once more before he slithered back all the way into the door like a stretched rubber band, “Unless you can guess my password!”

“Yea, Eda may be on staff here but she is kinda…” Edric let the words trail off.

“Unreliable,” Amity finished for him, “She is however the most experienced witch in Camp Half-Blood. She studied under the tutelage of our divine mother herself and is the closest thing-”  
“The closest thing Amity is going to get to mom’s praise,” Emira elbowed her younger sister as she interrupted her, “Mom like many of the gods has a free range style of parenting”

“That’s not true!” Amity’s face burned red, with anger or embarrassment Luz was not totally sure. Maybe a mix of the two? Though she could see Emira’s point. The way she had heard everyone talk about their godly parent was that they barely interacted with them. Maybe it was only on birthdays and when they claimed their children? She had never met her father as far as she knew, but she hoped at least when he claimed her they would have the chance to talk. Whenever that would be.

Still, Amity’s reluctant praise of Eda seemed to back up the witch’s earlier claims of being a powerful witch. A powerful witch must know a lot of cool spells to teach, right?

“So, what’s the password?” Percy asked.

“We don’t know,” Emira shrugged, “He changes it all the time. It could be anything. Most of the time it's something he has seen recently like ‘a bee’ or ‘a cloud shaped like a giraffe’.”

“I tried those already,” Amity turned toward Hooty and raised a threatening fist, “He won’t open his stupid door.”

“Hey! Eda said no hitting me again! Hoothoot!” Hooty replied with a noticeable amount of fear in his voice. Luz believed it that Amity had punched the house daimon before, he seemed to have a knack for getting on peoples nerves.

“Well, why don’t we give it a try?” Gus asked, and stepped forward toward Hooty’s door, “Is the password....owl pellets?”

“Nope! Try again!” Hooty stuck out his tongue from his little beak.

“Is it Owl House?” Percy provided.

“Oh, come on. I’m smarter enough to not make that the password!” Hooty glared at Percy with his beady eyes.

“Hmmm,” Luz hummed to herself and pondered. Hooty seemed like a pretty simple daimon. What would Hooty make the password? Luz snapped her fingers, “Is the password…’Hoot’”?

“Hoot? Oh, come on it can’t be-” Amity had begun to say before Hooty interrupted her with a loud screech.

“That’s correct! You got the password! Hoothoot.” Hooty rolled his eyes, but then seemed to freeze up, “Uhhhh. That’s the password, but Eda will be mad at me if I just let you in. How about best two-out-of-three?”  
“Hey! We guessed your password, now open up!” Amity pointed a threatening finger at the daimon.

“Oh, alright. Sheesh. I thought you guys were fun,” Hooty still seemed scared of Amity more than anything. The door he was on swung on his hinges until it was fully open and it revealed on the other side of the door was Hooty’s ‘back’, tail-feathers and little feet, but it was completely flat on the door as if he had just been painted on it. He was part of the door which meant he was part of the house Luz guessed.

“Dang it, Hooty. I told you to think of a better password!” Eda groaned from inside the house.Luz let out a squeal of excitement when she saw the Owl House’s interior. The inside was absolutely bursting with all kinds of interesting and magical looking knick-knacks - chests of various sizes, books with archaic looking Greek written on their covers, wax candles that provided light, an ox’s skull, several different weapons that looked like they had seen battle, a giant foam finger, a severed claw in a jaw, and a wanted poster with a picture of Eda drawn in the style she had seen on ancient Greek vases at the museum. 

Then there was Eda...laying down in a pile of...garbage. 

Gus, Percy and Luz stared.

It was a pile of junk that looked like Eda had taken it from a yard sale, or worse a dumpster. Coat hangers, a broken tv, a lampshade, an old tire, and more. She also wore the same clothes Luz had last seen her in, the orange sweater and grey sweatpants. When she noticed them staring at her she pointed a finger at them and glared.

“Hey! Don’t you judge me!” Eda got up from her pile of garbage, she made an aggravated groan as she did so, “Everyone has their hobbies. Mine is collecting mortal junk.”

“She sells some of it to demigods at camp who miss the outside world, the rest to creatures who have no clue its junk at exorbitant prices.” Edric told them.

“So, she’s like a used car salesman?” Percy said. 

“Yea,” Emira winked, “Hermes is the god of thieves and money transactions, is it any wonder she gets along so well with Cabin Eleven?” 

It would also explain why Annabeth seemed a little apprehensive about Eda. Since they were both related, to Annabeth the Owl Lady was probably her strange, hoarding relative. You’d smile for a family photo with them during the holidays but every other day of the year they were required to stand twenty-feet away at all times. 

“The most powerful mortal witch, favorite of Hermes, and daughter of Athena. I got it going on, thank you very much. Incarnate Makria!” Eda motioned one hand in a circle as she said the last two words and a large blanket her junk pile had been sitting on seemed to come to life! It wrapped itself together around the junk pile then lifted itself into the air and whizzed away up the stairs to the second level of the house. She looked at them all and groaned again, “Well, you made it inside. Might as well teach you something. If I don’t then Mr. D will start charging me rent.” 

“YES PLEASE!” Luz shouted and practically ran through the door followed by the dozen other campers. She stopped in front of Eda and looked up at her, the pure excitement she was feeling felt like it was radiating through her skin, “What are you going to teach us today? Is it the fireball spell you used on that giant? Maybe a spell to see into the future? A potion to breathe underwater? Commune with the dead?”

Luz would have continued on but she was stopped by Eda placing two fingers on her lips to stop her from speaking.

“Oh, wow, I knew you were eager to learn magic but kid you have to take it easy,” Eda yawned and scratched her side, “Do you know anything about how magic works?”

“Uuhhh…” Luz stepped back and tried to think of an answer, “It comes from the heart?”

“Oh gods,” Amity sighed and slapped a hand over her face.

“Not even a close kid.” Eda shook her head and looked at Percy and Gus, who looked as equally lost as Luz.

“Okay, newbies, here is the abridged version of how magic works and since you didn’t let me map this is the only explanation you are going to get so pay attention.” Eda clapped her hands together and separated them, a piece of ordinary looking chalk in her hands. She turned around and began to write in thin air but to Luz’s amazement as she wrote words appeared shimmering with a blue light.

Hecate is the Goddess of Magic and the Mist.  
The Mist lets you bend perceptions of mortals and reality itself.  
Magic works best at night or in dark places. Does that mean it is evil? No, don’t think that.  
Magic is not as strong as the illusion it is creating. Magical fire is not as hot as real or divine fire. Either way you will be burned.  
In places where the Mist is thin magic does not last long or is not as powerful.

When she had finished writing Eda clapped her hands together once and the chalk was gone. It was a dirty trick of course on her part, she knew all of them suffered from some form dyslexia since their brains were hardwired to Greek. Some demigods she had been told suffered from it more than others, but even for her the shimmering lines of the writing was making the words swim in front of Luz. Eda was really cranky when she did not have her naps. 

“Alright, any questions?” Eda asked.

Gus, Luz, and Percy raised their hands. 

“Too bad,” Eda clapped her hands again and the magical letters disappeared, “I’m not taking any questions.”

Definitely cranky. Luz heard as Amity sighed in disgust. 

“Oh, come on Eda. They are little, soft magic babies!” Edric declared, before he patted his hand on Gus’ head. 

“Yea, let them at least have one question each!” Emira added, before she clasped her hands together and looked at the Owl Lady pleadingly. 

Further support came from the other campers who barraged Eda with similar pleas. Eda clapped her hands over her ears and sighed, “Fine. Fine. One question each! You bunch of ankle-biting basilisks”. 

Eda pointed at Percy, “You. Toilet-Whisperer.” 

Immediately Percy scowled at Eda but she did see a blush of embarrassment on his features. Luz had heard some of the other campers mutter at breakfast about Percy and another camper, from Ares Cabin, that involved a toilet or toilet water. Whatever it was had happened before Luz had come to camp and it seemed to make Percy uncomfortable. Maybe it had something to do with his parent? Was there a god of plumbing?

“Fine” his face scrunched up as he concentrated, “Why isn’t magic evil? What about Medea and Circe?”

“Uuugh. Everyone brings up those two,” Eda shook her head, her wild mane whipped left and right, “The sun causes sunburn and droughts but you don’t see anyone calling it evil.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“Yea, yea - it’s responsible for all life on the planet. It's great. Can’t live without it.” Eda continued, though she had been talking at the ceiling rather than the campers. She gripped the bridge of her nose, “Magic is like a knife. You can use it to make a few holes in fresh fruit to eat or you can use it to make a few holes in someone who cheated at cards. It depends on the wielder.”

“Little Miss Princess before she jumped over the deep end into nasty-town used her magic to help Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. C.C after Odysseus shut down her magical petting zoo helped guide him to the Underworld and provided enchantments that helped him navigate it. Maybe not conventionally good acts but it certainly helped those great heroes”.

“Next up is dweebus.” Eda motioned at Gus. 

“Oh, uh, uh, uh.” he looked at the empty space where the words had disappeared from with panic, “How does magic bend reality?”

“Magic isn’t just snapping your finger and POOF something happens,” Eda looked at Amity when she said those words. The youngest Blight rolled her eyes. “It’s about making your target believe. The Mist makes mortals see a cute dog instead of a blood thirsty chimera. Why? Deep down they don’t want their entire world view shattered by the presence of something they thought was myth. On a metaphysical and partially metaphorical level that Chimera is a dog for most mortals. Going back to C.C. when she turns a sailor into a pig it's because she believes she turned a sailor into a pig, the sailor believes he has been turned into a pig, and the universe believes he is a pig - so he becomes a pig.”

“But what about-” Gus began to say but Eda cut him off.

“Eh-eh-eh. One question each. You. Girl who I rescued from becoming toe jam.” Eda pointed at Luz. She had a hundred and more questions, she grappled with the first one that came to mind.

“Uhhhh...why does magic work better in the dark?”

“It’s because all magic is photophobic!” Eda shot her finger guns with her hands and paused in place a grin on her face. “You know...it has a light phobia. A fear of light.”

“BA BUM TISH! Hoot! Hoot!” Hooty actually said with his beak the sound of a terrible punchline. 

“Booooo!” Edric and Emira shouted in unison.

“Hey, I already knew you were a terrible audience,” Eda crossed her arms and looked away. After a few moments she turned one eye back to Luz, “Close your eyes and what do you see? Nothing. Darkness. A blank slate which you can create anything in your imagination. That’s why magic is always more powerful during a New Moon when the light of the moon is weakest in the sky. Next one is at the Summer Solstice. Be prepared for some wild magic in the next two weeks.”

Eda clapped her hands together.

“Which gives me an idea for your magic lesson. We are going to turn everything I just said upside down and use magic to create light.”

“But-!” Gus gasped.

“No, no questions. If you have any questions you can talk to my daimon.” Eda said before she used a hand to rummage in her hair and pull out her owl staff again. “Now then. Newbies and the rest of you, I don’t care, hold out your hands.”

“Yeeee, magic!” Luz elbowed Gus and Percy before she looked around. Edric, Emira and the rest of the campers held out their hands. Luz caught just a glimpse of what looked like an excited smile on Amity’s face before it disappeared into her usual frown when she saw Luz looking at her. Luz eeped to herself and turned back to Eda. 

“Still pretty sure she is just going to teach us how to pull a rabbit out of a hat,” Percy shook his head but like her he held out his hands. 

“I don’t know. If it was a rabbit it would probably be on fire or something.” Gus looked apprehensive.

“Quiet or I’ll steal your tongues.” Eda’s eye twitched before she visibly calmed down, “Focus. Imagine a teeny, tiny ball of light in your hands. Hold onto that image. Move your hands in a single circle and say, Incarnate Leukos!”

As soon as Eda said the words a ball of light appeared in her hands. Luz was so stunned by this tiny act of real magic she forgot to do what Eda had instructed her. Around her the other campers chanted the words and one by one similar balls of light appeared in their hands. Some appeared immediately and shone brightly, like the ones case by the Blights, others took a few moments to manifest and shone weaker - like the one Percy had in his hand. For the first time since he had arrived his skeptical expression had disappeared and been replaced by one of silent shock. 

“This is so cool!” Gus stared at his light ball with absolute rapture. 

Luz felt her heart rate pick up as she got even more excited and panicked, she thrust her hands out and quickly moved them in a circle in front of her, “Incarnate Leukos!”

Nothing happened.

“Innncarnate Leukos!” Luz said it again, louder than before and stared at her hands expectantly. Still nothing happened.

“Ehh. Don’t sweat it, kid. Nine times out of ten spells just poof out.” Eda sounded sympathetic.

“No, no I can do this! Just give me a minute.” Luz swallowed, frowned and wrung out her hands before she placed them together and focused on her hands. On making light appear in them. She could do this. She could do this. She had been shown magic was real! She needed to do this. She just needed light.

Luz moved her hands in a circle again and said the enchantment again - putting all she had into it, “Incarnate Leukos!” 

The first thing she felt was a warmth in the pit of her stomach which spread out to the tips of her fingers. For a single moment it felt like her finger nails were on fire - then it passed as a ball of bright, radiant light bloomed into existence in the palm of her hands.

“I...just did magic. I just did magic!” Luz whooped, a wide smile on her face as she twirled in place, her hands raised above her head. Then the ball of light fell out of her hands as if she had been holding a sports ball. It dropped and as soon as it hit the floor it flashed and disappeared. Luz felt an almost rejuvenating heat pass through her before it was gone. She had not been the only one as Eda and the other campers looked like they had felt something too.

“Oh, cool! Let me try!” Gus said and swept his hands away from each other, but instead of falling his light ball simply disappeared as soon as he had moved his hands apart. Percy and the other campers tried the same thing and had the same result as Gus. 

“Hmmm…” Eda her own chin with her hand and looked at Luz, really looked at Luz. She thought that Eda’s grey eyes were seeing through her, analyzing every molecule in her body. “Good job, Luz. See, it just takes a little imagination.”

“How did-” Percy asked, but Eda clapped her hands again.

“I said no questions. Now, let’s try something different. Who wants to stir a witch’s brew?”

Eda swept into their next lesson, learning how to make Eda’s trade marked SPF 5001 sunscreen, a potion which tasted exactly sunscreen but would protect the drinker from a lot of horrendous burns for a few hours. When the only Apollo Cabin camper in the group asked if it was better than Medea’s SPF 5000 Eda had snorted and passionately proclaimed that not only was it better but Medea’s was a cheap knockoff no matter what anyone said. After about an hour or so Eda yawned loudly and shooed them all out the door. She was tired and needed sleep. 

“So what did you think of your first magic lesson?” Edric asked as they walked back to the Hermes Cabin, the campers from other cabins peeling off toward their respective ones. 

“Eda’s wild and a hoot” Emira said before she and Edric laughed at their joke.

“A little weird,” Percy scratched his black hair, “Not bad, just different.” 

“So cool! I bet you can do all sorts of things with magic,” Gus replied.

“I want to learn it all” Luz sighed and tilted her head exasperated, she noticed that Amity was looking at her almost as intently as Eda had been after the light spell. When Amity saw that she was noticed she abruptly turned her head and looked in the opposite direction as if nothing had happened. 

“You’re hooked! And fun,” Emira winked at Luz, which only made her blush.

“Yea, magic lessons will be more fun with someone more like you and not uptight Alabaster or Amity along” Edric also winked and Luz’ blush deepend.

Curse her weakness for getting attention from one or more cute badboys/badgirls…

“Ugh. Don’t compare me to Alabaster.” Amity glared at her full-blood siblings, “You both should still take learning magic seriously, no matter where it comes from.”

“Eh, whatever. We’re children of the Goddess of Magic. It comes natural to us one way or another.” Edric said, Emira and their half-siblings in the group agreed. 

“I mean it does come natural to you all…” Luz added quietly, she wanted to agree with all of the Blight siblings, and say that learning magic was something amazing but she faltered as she remembered how her light spell had stalled at first Amity did not give her a chance to continue.

“Hmph. Hubris.” Amity huffed and glared outright at Luz before she turned and walked away.

“Amity…!” Luz held up a hand to stop her but Emira pushed her back.

“Just leave her be. She gets so self-important sometimes and always goes on and on about our responsibility to magic and mom,” Emira made chatter-box motions with her hand and rolled her eyes.

“But-” 

“Don’t worry, Mittens just needs to blow off some steam. It’s Friday so she will have plenty of opportunity later tonight.” Edric grinned, something mischievous glinted in her eyes.

“What happens tonight?” Percy asked, wary of the look. 

“Capture the flag,” Edric and Emira replied in unison. 

Capture the flag was held in Camp Half-Blood every Friday night after dinner. It pitted alliances between the different cabins together. Sometimes they would band together out of jealousy over a cabin or exchange chore duties and shower schedules. It would be Hermes Cabin, Apollo Cabin, and Athena Cabin versus all the other cabins. It was held in the forest in camp, the one apparently ‘stocked’ with monsters. Each team had to defend their flag and capture the other side’s flag by carrying it across the stream that ran through the center of the forest. When Luz heard that the campers would be using real swords, spears, axes, and other weapons along with ‘magic items’ she had questioned that at first but then again it made sense given the monsters, but when she asked Emira what about other campers the other girl had laughed at her.

Maiming was discouraged by having desert privileges revoked. That still did not mean it did not happen often.

At the pavillon Percy had been given a sword, which he complained felt unbalanced, and a shield. Gus had been given a spear that was at least twice as tall as he was. Luz, since she had not trained yet with either of the other two weapons, had been given a small bronze knife, a bow and a quiver with arrows.

“Wait, did you see me at archery practice earlier? I couldn’t hit the target once!” Luz complained to Luke after he had handed her weapon to her. The torchlight glinted off his pale scar.

“Don’t worry, Chiron said you had a pretty great draw rate and even if you don’t hit anyone you’ll at least make them duck. Plus, Eda recommended it too.”

Eda along with Chiron had joined the match as referees, the centaur on foot and the witch in the air on her magic staff. She apparently liked to make the game “more interesting” if it looked like it would be boring or one-sided. Luz guessed that involved throwing down fireballs or summoning a flock of angry owls to attack everyone. 

“Don’t worry. Athena Cabin has a plan, you’ll be fine. Trust me.” Luke winked before he placed a bronze helmet with a blue-colored horse hair plume that marked their team’s allegiance.

“It’s just a game, it’s just a game, it’s just a game” Gus repeated his mantra as they trudged away from the pavilion toward the forest, the night air was hot and sticky. 

“Hey, at least you’ll be on border patrol with Percy and me,” Luz tried to cheer him up, and it seemed to work a little as Gus nodded at her and repeated his words more quietly. Percy returned from ahead of the group, he had wanted to talk to Annabeth about the battle plan, but whatever she had told him did not seem to have encouraged him at all. It looked like she had punched him in the gut.

“What did she say?” Luz asked, Percy looked up at her and shrugged his shoulders.

“Athena always has a plan.” Percy replied, it certainly sounded like something Annabeth would have said. Luz had seen Annabeth talking earlier with Amity outside of Athena’s Cabin, they looked like they had been discussing something that had them both worried. Amity had begun to argue about something but when they had noticed her they had immediately stopped talking and waited until Luz had passed by before they had walked off somewhere more private. Did it have something to do with tonight’s game? 

Athena was a goddess of war after all, and her kids seemed the type to take things seriously. Amity was...aggressive, to say the least. Maybe she really wanted to win their game? Amity and her siblings were stationed guarding their team’s flag along with most of the Apollo Cabin. After a short walk Annabeth had ordered Gus, Luz, and Percy to an isolated spot by the creek that separated the two sides, they were ‘border patrol’. Luz had wished Annabeth and the other campers good luck but the grey-eyed girl had ignored her and sped off to station the remaining team members before the game started. 

It was just the three of them in the dark, with only the moons, stars and fireflies for light. 

“Does anyone else feel kind of...like an idiot right now?” Percy asked, the blue plume of his helmet waved back and forth as he moved his head. His arms looked weighed down by the unbalanced sword and his large shield. 

“Only a little…” Gus lifted his helmet up to see them. 

In the distance a conch horn blew, that was the signal to start the game. It was quickly followed by shouts and the clang of metal as the two sides began to fight. A single camper from Apollo raced passed them and over the creek.

“Good luck…” Luz said weakly, the Apollo camper did not acknowledge her as she disappeared into the trees. 

It looked like things would be pretty uneventful for their first game of capture the flag. 

In the darkness something growled and it sent a shiver up Luz’s spine. 

“Did you hear that?” Percy asked and peered around into the gloom, he looked equally as shaken as she was.

“Please don’t let it be a monster!” Gus cried and held his spear outward as he moved around in a circle where he stood, “Maybe, it was just a deer?”

Luz tried to find the source of the growling but she could not see anything at all. Then she got an idea, the light spell that Eda had taught them earlier. She set her bow down and placed her hands out and moved them in a circle, “Incarnate Leukos!”

Nothing happened.

“Oh, come on! You worked before!” Luz cried in frustration. She wanted to try again but then suddenly the growling stopped and the cold feeling from earlier disappeared. Before she could try the spell again five Ares warriors burst out of the tree line on the otherside of the creek.

“Cream the punk! Smash the other two wimps!” the tall Ares camper Luz had seen earlier screamed out and pointed a wicked looking spear with a barbed tip at Percy.

“Oh man, it figures, Clarisse,” Percy sighed under his breath as the others charged toward them. 

“Kramity!” Luz shouted, and fumbled with an arrow before she drew it back on the string. The metal tip certainly looked like it would hurt if it went into something soft like a body. She stared down the sight toward the other campers and hesitated. She closed her eyes and looked away before she let the arrow fly, she opened them a split second later to see her arrow fall into the dirt before it was trampled by Clarisse. She said a word in Spanish that if her mom knew she knew would mean Luz would be grounded for a month with no tv. 

She tried for another arrow but the Ares campers were upon them, Clarisse and two others surrounded Percy while one went for Gus and another body checked her with his shoulder. She felt her feet leave the ground as she was thrown backwards into the dirt. Somehow she kept a hold of her bow. 

“Aaah!” Gus screamed terrified as he poked his spear at the Ares camper that went after him, then jumped back and poked again. The guy laughed in his face and swatted Gus’ spear aside before he punched the smaller boy in the gut with the butt of a bronze sword. Seeing that Gus and her were no threat the two campers rejoined the rest of their group who had Percy on his knees. 

She could only watch and struggle to get back to her feet as they insulted him and pushed him around. One cut his arm with a slash of a sword and every time Clarisse poked him with her spear it looked like electricity was coursing through Percy’s body by the way he twitched and the hair on his body stood up. They laughed some more and pushed Percy into the creek just as Luz had regained her footing.

“Hey! Leave him alone! Are you...are you so pathetic you have to gang up on him five to one?” Luz shouted at them, her grip tightened in anger on her bow as they looked at her and only laughed some more. 

Then Percy stood up in the creek and everything changed. Percy swung his sword at one of the Ares campers and knocked his helmet off before slamming his fist into the guy’s face. The two that had attacked her and Gus came at him together but he made quick work of them both as he bashed one with his shield and sent the other stumbling back with a swipe. One of the last two Ares campers looked smart enough to back away from Percy but unfortunately the other not-so-smart one was Clarisse who screamed as she thrust with her spear - only for Percy to catch it with the edge of his sword and shield before he snapped it in half. 

“Coooool,” Luz gasped, that had been amazing! Like he had gained a power-up in a video game and had stomped over the Ares campers like they had been newbs. 

In the distance shouting pulled all of their attention away. She could just make out the shape of Luke as he raced toward the boundary line, a red team banner in his hands. His retreat was covered by some of the Hermes Cabin campers, who went down as a root the size of a car burst from the ground and knocked them over. It reached for Luke to grab him but he dodged around it at the last second and was home free! The moment he crossed the red banner shimmered and changed to silver with a huge caduceus on it, the symbol of their cabin. The shouts of victory and moans of defeat rang throughout the forest as everyone converged on their spot. Chiron raced out of the forest while Eda flew down from the sky.

“Wooohoo! We did it!” Gus shouted from the ground, both his tiny arms spinning in the air above him. 

“Come on, Gus. Let’s celebrate!” Luz said and walked over to him and pulled him up to his feet. She turned around in time to see Annabeth had appeared from seeming thin air, she had a yankees ball cap in her hands that Luz had never seen before. Percy and her were talking about something but Luz could not make it out.

“It’s a magical item, a gift from her mother.” Amity said as she walked over to them, her eyes switching from Luz to Percy as if she was recalculating something in her head. “It makes her invisible when she wears it,”

Amity seemed to have her own magic item, in her hand she held a sword that had a normal looking hilt but the blade itself was not made of any celestial bronze that most demigod weapons were made from. It was made out of shifting white mist. 

“Partingmist” Amity held up her strange sword, “The first and only gift I received from my mother.”

She sounded bitter by the way she spoke. Luz wanted to ask her more but then the growl she had heard before returned followed by a howl that tore through the forest and this time everyone had heard it. 

“Oh, Styx” Eda cursed, “I know that sound and it isn’t anything pretty.”

Luz’ eyes turned upward where on a rocky outcropping there was a black hound that looked like it had eaten a car because it was the size of one. Its teeth were the size of knives and just as sharp. Its eyes were glowing red pupils that looked like they had come from the Bad Place. Worse, it was staring right at Percy. 

It shifted its weight as it made to leap down.

“My bow! Now!” Chiron said in what Luz realized a moment later was ancient Greek which she somehow completely understood. Now she had three languages to confuse with one another. 

Luz though already had her bow gripped in her hands. Her eyes were glued to the monster-dog as it leaped down toward Percy, and before she knew it or realized what she had been doing she had drawn an arrow and knocked it on her bowstring. She aimed down her sights at the monster-dog. She thought what she was doing had to be ridiculous. All she had was a single arrow made of wood and bronze, one arrow could not kill a beast like that. Could she even hit it? 

Yet, though she doubted herself she knew one truth: She had to save her friend.

“Please! Someone help me! Dad if you are watching, whoever you are, please help me. For Percy if not me.” Luz whispered under her breath a moment before she loosened her arrow just as the monster landed on top of Percy, one massive paw with jagged claws pinned him to the ground and raked at his shield.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she watched her arrow fly, and in that moment all she could think about was the only spell she knew. The light spell.

Luz felt the warmth in the pit of her stomach again that she had felt earlier. It flowed through her arms again and to her fingertips - they felt like they would burst into flames this time but she gritted down the pain and kept her eyes focused on the arrow. The burning sensation ripped loose of her and into the air after the arrow she had already launched. 

Her arrow began to shine. 

It was as if sunlight was bending around the arrow. First one time, then two more times, then ten times, then fifty more times and then a hundred times in what could have only been a split of a second until the entire arrow had become a beam of light vaguely shaped like an arrow. It flared with light that lit the entire area, most of the other campers, Chiron and Eda covered their eyes at the bright light - but not all of them did so, some had no trouble continuing to watch just like Luz did. The speed of her arrow’s velocity suddenly sped up like it had ignited tiny, invisible rocket jets or had become as fast as speeding light. 

Her transformed arrow struck the monster-dog just below its neckline and the beast was OBLITERATED in a flash of light.

All that was left of it was the stump of its legs and a patch of its inky black fur, but only for a moment before the legs seemed to fade into wisps of shadow. Percy was completely unharmed by the explosion, in fact the only thing that seemed worse for him was that he looked like he had been slightly sunburned. 

“Kramity…” Luz breathed before she heard a sound like a stringed instrument being plucked above her head. She had just enough time to look upward and see a technicolor image of a lyre crossed with two arrows set against a yellow sun appear and then disappear above her. 

“AHA!” Eda shouted and pointed at her, “I knew it! Argus owes me ten drachma! Hot dang, I love capture the flag.”

“Uhhhh…” Luz looked at her bow, back toward where the monster-dog had been and then back to where the image had faded, “Was that-?”

“It is determined, child,” Chiron nodded in her direction. “Phoebus. Light of the Sun. Far-Darter. Bringer of Healing and Disease. Lord of Delphi…”

“Apollo!” Gus shouted and clapped his hands together across his head, “It makes sooooo much sense now…”

Amity seemed to be recalculating her entire impression of Luz and she seemed, strangely disappointed. As if she had expected something different.

“It does? I’m still a little lost here. What did I do to my arrow?”

“Photokinesis.” an older boy said as he walked to her, she did not know his name but she did know he was the head counselor for Cabin Seven, Apollo- her dad’s cabin. “The ability to control light. That’s a rare ability. A demigod has not manifested that ability in...centuries - at least not completely. I mean I can make things glow a bit sometimes but that was....bending the light itself!”

“Oh...that’s it, then?” Luz asked, she was...disappointed. She had expected, well, more for when she was claimed by her dad. Like him showing up in person to proclaim to the heavens that they were related. She didn’t want any big fanfare or anything, but what had happened was the equivalent of Apollo sending her a postcard that said “I’m your daddy”. By the way she had heard most of the other campers talk about the whole thing it had sounded more special than it was. At least she now knew who her dad was, but it also made her understand some of the bitterness she saw in Luke, Amity, and the other undetermined campers.

“There is more to it,” Chiron said and she perked up for a moment before he continued, “You’ll be moving into Cabin Seven now and will complete your activities with your half-brothers and sisters. We should be concerned though, that beast, it was a hellhound from the Underworld”.

Yikes, she had killed a hellhound. Did that mean the God of the Dead would have a grudge against her for killing one of his pets?

“Percy summoned it!” Clarisse accused Percy, but Chiron told her to be quiet which shut her up immediately. 

“Chiron, you have to see this.” Annabeth told the centaur before she instructed Percy to get into the water of the creek. Everyone gathered around him as he did and to what seemed like everyone’s surprise the cuts on his body from the fight began to heal.  
Then a sign flashed above his head, it looked nothing like the one she had seen above her’s. This one had the image of a trident spinning and gleaming on a sea-green background. It looked very nautical to her.

“Ooooooh, dang it.” Eda cursed beside Luz, “This is going to be a world of trouble.”

“Your father,” Annabeth murmured, “This is really not good.”

“It is determined,” Chiron announced. 

Suddenly all of the other campers started to kneel, Luz and Gus looked around in confusion before Eda pulled them both down with her - though she seemed to be kneeling with an immense amount of apprehension. 

“Poseidon,” said Chiron, “ Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”

“Oh,” Luz said and blinked, by the way everyone else was acting it seemed like it was a big deal who Percy’s dad was. Luz shrugged, “Congrats, Percy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news everyone! I commished @noodsblackery for artwork for the AU. 
> 
> If you want to see Luz and Amity in action later on in the story just look here:
> 
> https://imgur.com/a/CYd5a9y


	5. New (and Old) Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major props to JJ_2937 for this fan art here! Ahhhh its so great!  
> https://twitter.com/JV2en3/status/1309858912703623168?s=20
> 
> A little shorter than I planned but I've been in a bit of a funk and wanted to write up a little more. Things have been stupid busy and my mind has been all over the place. Hopefully yous guys won't have to wait as long for the next chapter!

True to Chiron’s words Luz was moved to Cabin Seven that very night. She had been a little reluctant leaving Gus, they had come to camp together and it felt like she was abandoning him even though she would not be that far away. Edric and Emira promised to look after him and that they would still have plenty of activities together. 

Her new cabin, Cabin 7 looked at first glance like a normal, wooden cabin with a lyre symbol carved into the doorway - though the very next morning she was almost blinded when she walked out into the morning light. Apparently, when the sunlight hits the cabin for the first time of each day it lights up like it was made out of shiny gold. Around were patches of bright, yellow flowers that Luz had never seen before and seemed to only grow around the cabin. Inside looked normal, bunk beds against white plaster walls. In fact she had her own bed now, which was a big improvement over the floor she had been sleeping on. 

Really the only thing that she felt was the freakiest change or just one she was having a hard time to come to terms with was that she suddenly had twenty or so half-brothers and half-sisters. She had grown up as an only child - the fantasy of having a brother or sister had crossed her mind before but it had not been something she had really wished for. The truth of her origin as a demigod of Apollo had given her very little buffer time to adjust to the reality. Most of her new, or really old siblings since it's not like they were not siblings before, ranged from being a few years younger or older than her. 

There was Lee Fletcher who looked to be about eighteen years old, he was the Head Counselor for Cabin 7. Just a year younger than him was also Michael Yew who was the Vice-Counselor for the cabin. Unsurprisingly given their last names both of their mothers had been olympic (as in sports, not the place) medal archers. There was Will Solace, a bright haired boy who looked to be about Gus’ age who seemed to always have his head in a medical book. Even younger than him was a dark haired boy with cornrows shaped like double helixes that always seemed to be playing some sort of musical instrument, his name was Austin Lake. Victoria Wording was a girl a year or so older than Luz who for some reason always seemed to be writing down haikus. Also, the camper from Apollo-their cabin who had been there for her first magic lesson at the Owl House was named Skarra Bard - she seemed very chipper and upbeat even if she was a little ditzy.

They all had wanted to know how she had shot her light arrow (or maybe she should call it arrow of light?) at the hellhound. They all seemed universally amazed by the feat.

“I don’t know.” Luz had shrugged from her new bed, she scratched the back of her neck nervously. She was the center of attention now. “I just really wanted to save my friend...I mean, I tried archery with Cabin 11 earlier and I couldn’t hit the target at all.”

“Hmm.” Michael rubbed his chin, “I think I might know the answer to that question. How about we give it a try?” 

Michael turned and picked a bow from a rack on the wall.

“What? I-in here? Isn’t that dangerous?” Luz said with alarm, though it seemed to make everyone else laugh.

“Don’t worrrry,” Skarra waved her hand like it was no big deal, “It will be fine!”

“Uhh…” Luz was pulled up from her bed by Lee who faced her around to the far wall where an archery bullseye had appeared from nowhere. Michael placed the bow in her hand and gave her a single arrow.

“Now, I want you to focus on the target and give it a try! It’ll be fine.”

“Well, okay, I guess if you say!” Luz replied, still unsure but she followed his direction. To her surprise though her hands seemed to move on their own again, as if muscle memory she never knew she had, had awakened on its own. Quick as a flash of light she had nocked the arrow, brought her bow to aim, sighted, and had loosed her bolt - which struck perfectly in the center of the target. “How-?”

“Apollo is the God of Archery.” Michael explained, “All of his children are preternaturally gifted with skills with the bow. I’m guessing earlier you might have had a lot on your mind?”

Finding out she was a demigod. The chance to do magic just like the Good Witch Azura. She had barely noticed how time had flown by during her archery lesson with Chiron.

“Yea?”

“So, your mind was on anything BUT the target. That’s why you could not hit it before.” Michael nodded his head knowingly.

Now that she thought about it, her arrows had, and it did make an eerie amount of sense. 

“What about the thing I did with the arrow though?”

“Photokineses.” Will said from her side, “Father is the god of a lot of things. Archery, music, prophecy, healing, the sun, inspiration, and the list goes on.”

“We all have varying degrees of power in Dad’s domains. Universally in archery, we tend to be better sportsmen, healers, artists…” Victoria added. 

“Oh! I can draw really well.” Luz chimed in, she had always been good at drawing even from a young age. 

“Dad is the leader of the Muses, the inspirational goddesses of all of the arts! Kind of like the lead singer in a band or a composer of an orchestra!” Skarra beamed.

“As I said before, Photokinses is a rare gift among demigods. I think the last demigod to have it lived in the 18th and 19th century, she used her light to guide George Washington’s army across the frozen Delaware river at night. We can all glow to an extent but from what I saw you did was you bent the light into-”

“A laser weapon! It was so scifi! It was awesome!” Austin interrupted before he made finger guns with his hands and made ‘pewpew’ sounds. 

“Heh, thanks” Luz rubbed her neck again, “I feel kind of drained though after all that.”

“Oh! Of course,” Michael nodded and turned to the rest of their collective half-siblings, “Alright, it’s been a busy night. Lights out everyone.”

Some of the other campers looked disappointed like they wanted to ask Luz more questions or show them how she had bent light but they complied and in a few minutes the lights were out and everyone was in bed. Luz tucked herself under her covers and before she knew it she was asleep.

-

When she opened her eyes again she was in a room all by herself, a small table on a fluffy carpet was infront of her. There were many, many pictures drawn from crayons on the table - some were of character she had seen on tv, one in particular was of her and her mami riding on a flying metal tube with wings which was supposed to be an airplane. The window was open and the bright sunlight illuminated everything for her, a soft breeze brought in the sound of music and voices from the street below - all of it was in Spanish. 

Luz stretched, her hands brushed against the six braids she had tied her hair into that stuck out in all directions, each one festooned with all of the pretty hair clips and ties she could find. Slowly she got up on her short, adolescent legs, she straightened out the wrinkles in the pretty, yellow sundress Mami had bought for her at the market. Abuelita had left earlier to meet with a few of her friends, but promised she would bring her back a sweet treat. She liked them, they never had any of the kind of sweets here back home. 

“-ou here.” Luz heard her mami’s voice from the otherside of the only door to the room. It sounded like she was talking to someone. Had Abuelita come back early? Instantly curious she waddled over to the doorway and opened it up just a little - enough that Luz could peek through and hear better. 

“Oh, Camilla. My shining ball of passion! Still as beautiful as ever.” a man said from the dining table. His skin was tanned bronze, and he was tall and muscular with eyes that almost seemed to shine. He was wearing some kind of strange bathrobe or maybe it was a dress? Something about his smile seemed familiar to Luz which she puzzled for a moment before she realized it looked a lot like her own. 

Mami sat across from him, and the mysterious man was right, her mami was the most prettiest mami in the whole wide world! Though, the look she was giving the stranger was the same kind she gave Luz when she had used her crayons to make the walls at home look like a fun picture book.

“Ap-, no, Alberto. What is it that you want?” Mami asked, both of her arms crossed over her chest.

“I wanted to see you of course,” the man, Alberto, said though the confidence in his voice had cracked slightly, “Luz too of course. It is her birthday pretty soon, right?”

Alberto waved his hand and the light from the window seemed to pool together until it popped and suddenly there was a bow in his hands. It looked like it was made of a tree that had been made of gold. A sun symbol was carved into it and the string looked to be as fine as silk. It was also twice her height and there was no way she could pull the string back to use it. 

“Her birthday was two weeks ago.” Mami narrowed her eyes at Alberto who fidgeted in his chair. 

“What? I could have sworn it was fifty cycles before the Summer Solstice.” 

“Maybe you were thinking of one of your other children? Hm? One of the ones you had with the dozen or so other women you were dating while we, while I was in college?” Mami sounded angrier the more she spoke. 

“You were fine with that when we-”

“When we last spoke? That was over five years ago, Alberto! You were here one day and then you were gone!”

“That’s not-”

“Then I get a-a house visit from a goat-man! Saying Luz will need to go to a camp when she is older or she might get killed?” Mami cracked her knuckles, the anger rolling off of her was like the white, hot wrath of the sun.

“That’s why I think this will be perfect for Luz!” Alberto said, holding the bow up in front of him like a shield, “Believe me! I just -know- it. She has the potential to be one of the great heroes!”

“I don’t want her to be a great hero.” 

“Come again?”

“I don’t want her to be in danger. She doesn’t deserve the burden of being attacked by monsters! To have her whole life upended.” Mami slowly calmed down after she had spoken, “Do you really want her to be killed like all of those great heroes?”

Alberto seemed like he was about to say something immediately then shut his mouth, the light around him dimmed, “...no. I never do.”

Alberto looked for just a moment haunted by something, something terrible.

“Then I want you to swear you will not interfere with Luz’s life.” Mami said before she leaned forward closer to Alberto - there was a tear in her eye.

“I-I...I promise. I will not interfere in her life. I’ll ask Hecate to mask her with the Mist more - but Camilla, sweet ray of light, Luz is-”

“I’ll take your promise,” Mami interrupted him, “Now please. Go.”

“...alright, but please at least give her this.” Alberto held up the bow and in a flash of light it had changed - now it was a book with a character that looked like a witch on the front, “She WILL enjoy this. Trust me on that.”

“Hmm, ‘the Good Witch Azura’?” Mami took the book from Alberto’s hand, her fingers lingered for just a moment as they touched, before she drew her arm back, “A little weird...but I’ll give it to her.”

“Thank you, Camilla. You...you are doing great. Raising Luz by yourself.” Alberto smiled wistfully and as he did his form began to light up brighter and brighter - like he was going to explode into a supernova, “That inner light of yours...ah, I never stood a chance after I first saw it!”

Then he burst into a wave of light that blinded Luz to everything.

-  
“Alright everyone. Time to get up. Move it now before your shower time is up!” Michael’s voice drew Luz out of her sleep.

She opened her eyes and looked around, it was Cabin 7 and everyone was in the process of getting up for the day. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and tried to think back, had she been dreaming? She could not remember, her memories were just a white fog all the way back to when she had last closed her eyes. Oh, well. She tended to have strange dreams. 

“Hey Luz!” Skarra said from a bed away, “It’s Saturday so all of the cabins have free activity in the afternoon. Did you want to go back to the Owl House and learn some more magic?”

“Oh boy! Do I ever!” Luz squealed and leaped out of her bed. Another trip to the Owl House? She could not wait!

**Author's Note:**

> There we go! Saw twitter art for a TOH / Owl House crossover and I was inspired! Thanks to @sundribs on Twitter for inspiration and ideas for this!


End file.
